With less than a month before pivotal international climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said he has urged the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to complete a decision on the Cape Wind offshore wind project before those negotiations occur, saying it would send a strong signal to the world that the United States is committed to advancing carbon-free clean energy.
“Approving the Cape Wind project as the nation’s first commercial offshore wind project before the start of the U.N. conference would send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution,” said Markey, who chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and co-authored the climate change bill passed by the House last summer.
The Interior Department has already completed the environmental review of the Cape Wind project, and state and local permitting was completed in May.
Many of Cape Cod’s well-known and wealthy residents oppose development of the wind farm. However, two public opinion polls have found statewide support for the project to be 86%.
As planned the Cape Wind project would included 130 wind turbines, capable of providing power for 400,000 homes at a cost of roughly $1 billion.
“With the Obama administration’s initiatives and the additional clean energy legislation currently pending before Congress, the tide has turned from the near total focus on fossil fuel extraction towards a comprehensive plan that includes the clean energy promise of the winds and the tides. Approving the Cape Wind project would be another important step towards a clean energy future,” Markey wrote in a letter to Salzar.
In Related News…
The governors of Maryland, Virginia and Delaware agreed Tuesday to a partnership to encourage the deployment of offshore wind energy in the region, hoping to capitalize on the Mid-Atlantic’s enormous offshore wind resources.
Read the Capital News Service report at the link below.
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November 9, 2009
To the Honorable Chairman Markey and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming:
According to the November 9, 2009 Wall Street Journal, “the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Rep. Edward Markey (D., Mass.) urged Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to make a decision before the UN summit on a Massachusetts company’s proposal to build a wind farm off Cape Cod. The project – known as Cape Wind.”
“Approving the Cape Wind project as the nation’s first commercial offshore wind project before the start of the U.N. conference would send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution,” Mr. Markey said in a letter to Mr. Salazar made public Monday.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/11/09/climate-fight-epa-sends-global-warming-finding-to-white-house/
However; Page 47 MMS Final OCS rules state:
“Based on comments received on the NPR, MMS added a requirement to this section that in order to qualify to become a lessee or a grant holder, the applicant must demonstrate technical and financial capabilities to construct, operate and maintain, and terminate/decommission projects for which you are requesting authorization.”
http://www.mms.gov/offshore/AlternativeEnergy/PDFs/AD30RenewableEnergy04-22-09.pdf
This OCS “Lease” section applies to Cape Wind, at minimum. Cape Wind does not have technical capability to construct Cape Wind as they have no manufacturing source for their wind turbines. Cape Wind has no wind turbine purchase contract, project financing, or a Power Purchase Agreement.
Thusly, Cape Wind is not qualified to become a MMS lessee under the Final OCS rules.
Furthermore: The National Environmental Policy Act provides assurance of public safety threatened by Cape Wind as proposed for Nantucket Sound.
http://bjdurk.newsvine.com/_news/2009/09/19/3290406-cape-wind-a-public-safety-hazard-proposed-for-nantucket-sound-
Additionally: Cape Wind, proposed for a migratory flyway, should be reasonably anticipated to violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a strict liability criminal statute–and avoided.
http://bjdurk.newsvine.com/_news/2009/03/11/2534556-dear-secretary-salazar-please-do-not-sign-off-on-cape-wind-
The Cape Wind review v taxpayers and ratepayers (Cape Wind does not provide a fair return to the Nation for the use of our resources:
http://bjdurk.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/13/2813446-cape-wind-offshore-project-review-v-taxpayers-and-ratepayers
Cape Wind is in conflict with the OCS Final Rules:
http://bjdurk.polls.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/13/2813346-cape-wind-is-in-conflict-with-final-ocs-rules-and-applicable-laws?threadId=0
Most Respectfully,
Barbara Durkin
Central Massachusetts
Offshore wind projects aren’t economically viable from the rate and taxpayers’ perspectives.
National Grid identified Deepwater Wind off the coast of Block Island “will more than triple the current rate for traditional electricity.”
Providence Business Journal
10/16/09
‘N. Grid rejects Deepwater Wind proposal’
“…But in a letter to the PUC, Grid called Deepwater’s proposal “not commercially reasonable” and said “in pure financial terms, [it] is uneconomic by a significant margin for Rhode Island customers for the entire term.”
http://www.pbn.com/detail/45500.html